posted 02-10-2000 08:05 PM         

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The Boffo Butane-PVC Hash Oil Extractor

For those of us who never quite got over the loss when fine-quality hash oil disappeared from the market, and for all cannabis connoisseurs everywhere, it would be my honor to write up what is in my opinion the easiest, highest-yielding and most selective cannabis oil extraction method available to date. Others have posted about this method before me; I simply want to write it up in a little more detail than has been provided to this point. In my mind, the credit for being the first to introduce this method to bees on the Lycaeum goes to Freejon. A big thanks goes out to gyrogearloose also for perpetuating it here lately.

This method uses perfectly OTC butane gas (use the lighter refiller type, not the camping supply type which has a nasty odorizer in it) as the extraction solvent, and requires nothing even remotely suspicious or difficult to purchase. (I have heard that CO2 works also, but I haven't tried that yet. Obviously it's a safer choice, so it would be a good thing to move up to once butane has been tried a time or two.) The only other thing needed is about $2.00 worth of PVC pipe: a section 1.5 (one and a half) feet long and 1 & 3/4" diameter (outer diameter I believe), and two end caps. Threads are not necessary.

For reasons not yet clear to those of us investigating these things "unofficially," butane and CO2 (and perhaps other gases with similar low-boiling properties) selectively solvate the desireable fraction(s) of cannabis oils, pulling out only a beautiful amber "honey oil" and leaving the undesireable vegetative oils, waxes, chlorophyll, etc. behind in the plant matter. Even unsmokable shade leaves produce a wonderfully clean and potent oil. I have every reason to suspect that this would work splendidly to extract a super-strong and tasty oil from gross, unpalatable "schwag" commercial pot,and of course, the better grade of weed you put it in, the better the resulting oil.

METHOD:

1) In one of the end caps, drill a single small hole in the center. This hole should be correctly sized to receive the little outlet nozzle of your butane can.
2) In the other end cap, drill a group of 5 or 6 small holes clustered in the center (like a pepper shaker).
3) Put the end cap with several holes on one end of the pipe. Twist it on there real tight. This is the bottom.
4) Fill the pipe up with plant matter that has been pulverized into a coarse powder. (Full pipe estimated at 1.5 oz capacity, but this is a rough guess.)
5) Place the top end cap on the pipe. Again, put it on as securely as you can by hand.
6) Find a location outdoors with a decent breeze. You want these butane fumes to be quickly carried away. Seriously.
6a) Mount the pipe (single hole-side up) over a vessel that can hold 300mL+. Beakers are perfect. A lab stand and clamp are ideal for the mounting, but a regular shop clamp or anything that can hold it sturdily is fine. Position the bottom end of the pipe immediately over (1-2") the receiving vessel to eliminate splatter loss.
7) Turn the butane gas can upside down and dispense the gas into the pipe via the single top hole. A whole can takes about 10-12 seconds to evacuate. Be brave, swift, and careful. A spark at this moment would spell disaster since you have basically created an incendiary explosive device that is leaking.
8) When you've exhausted the can into the pipe, back off to a nice distance and let it do its thing.

The butane moves down the pipe, extracting the cannabis as it goes. When it gets to the bottom (~30 seconds after dispensing), it begins to drain into the receiving vessel. Notice the pale, glowing yellow-green-gold hue of the extract. It is obvious no chlorophyll was pulled out of the herb.

Over approximately five to eight minutes, the butane extract will finish draining from the pipe to the receiving vessel. Maintain caution with the pipe, however, since there is a lot of residual butane still evaporating from within the pipe (notice the stream of fumes coming from the top hole). When it slows down to a drop every few seconds, you can tap on the top hole with your finger and it will help push the last of the liquid butane out (or one can gently blow into the hole to do the same thing. Remember, NO SMOKING!!).

Being very low-boiling and volatile, the collected butane will likely begin boiling at ambient temperature. The receiving vessel will gradually frost up as the butane cools it down, slowing down its rate of evaporation, but you can speed this up again simply by holding it in your hands. A better way is to set it in a saucepan containing a little bit of warm water. Watch the butane start bubbling madly with the increase in temperature and marvel at its low boiling point. Again, be doing this outdoors with a nice breeze!

When the majority of the butane is gone, but before the oil is starting to thicken, you have the choice of putting the oil into a vial or leaving it in your receiving vessel. If you choose to put it into a vial, it's important that you use an oversized one, i.e. one that can hold several times the volume of your solution. (I learned the hard way about this, thanks to the volatile temperament of butane. I had filled a vial almost all the way to the top and was preparing to drop those last couple drops in so that cleverly, I could let the last of the butane evaporate from the vial and the oil would all be neatly contained. But when the last drops hit the mother lode in the vial, they changed its temperature upward by a hair and it all "superboiled" out of the vial and onto my fingers, which of course startled me and caused me to drop the vial. So heed me when I say to use an oversize vial. Now I just leave it in a 140 mL beaker for safety's sake.) It's a trip to watch the last traces of butane make sticky bubbles in the beautiful mess of amber residue as you apply that last bit of gentle heat.

The final product is a deep yellow-amber oil of the highest quality, incredibly pure and potent. I remember well some of the prime "honey oil" hash oils that hit the market in the late 1970s, and this stuff stands up to any of them. It's amazing how this method extracts only the good fraction and leaves the junk in the weed. But that's exactly what it does. Note also that this oil has a somewhat higher melt/vaporization point than traditional hash oils; the traditional dispensing method (dipping a needle or paper clip in, getting some goop on the end, and warming it with a flame to get it to drip off into your bowl) still works with this stuff, but it seems you have to be more careful with it because it doesn't heat to liquid state as quickly or in the same manner, and it can more easily be allowed to burn up on your needle. So be careful.

Those who prefer a tincture-like preparation can of course thin the product a little with a bit of warm high-percentage alcohol like Everclear or 90-whatever-% isopropyl, then drop it onto buds or let a joint absorb some, then let the alcohol evaporate. I also observed that unlike hash oil derived from traditional methods, this product is not readily soluble in room-temp alcohol; it needed to be warmed before it dissolved fully.

So there it is. Spread the word far and wide: hash oil is BACK!
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posted 02-17-2000 01:38 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Dope Amine:
I'm interested in making and isomerising hash oil from some extra leaf layin' around. Hypothetically, I'm using acetone cuz it is supposed to be superior to alcohol for solubility of THC. I know that with alcohol, when you want to separate polar from non-polar, you add water to the alcohol so that it becomes insoluble in your non-polar solvent. My question is can you treat acetone the same as if it was alcohol and add water to acetone to make it insoluble in DCM? Otherwise what would be a good way to separate the oil from the polar stuff (sulfuric acid and chloriphyl)?

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posted 02-17-2000 04:05 PM         

I would like to know how one would rig glassware to steam distill.

posted 02-17-2000 11:58 PM         

Now, load flask/p.c. with H20 and generate steam. Put your stuff in the 2nd flask/pot and add heat, while you add steam.

The steam forms an azeotrope (10$ word meaning mixture) that causes the oil to evaporate at a much lower temperature and also busts up the cell structure ( should be ground anyway). The 2nd neck of the flask goes to a distillation arm to the condensor...all the goodies follow the steam into the condensor...then you have product!